Wetlands

Working extra hours this week to make up for the early month holiday, especially with the student loan and Ann Arbor rent to pay!  Last night's extra hours were pretty awesome though!
  We had our moonlight voyager canoe trip, I worked the later one, at 11 pm 10 of us got into a 36 foot long wood canoe modeled after the ones the French Canadians used to use when bringing furs from Canada to the US.  I felt in touch with my ancestors!  Not to mention it was the perfect night for a canoe trip, clear skies, bright moon, still and quiet.  The moon really was our guide last night though Sima J. Marsh.  It was a peaceful canoe trip, with lots of stars in the sky, Saturn in the southern sky as well.  Fireflies were sprinkled throughout the marsh, adding a sparkle to the peaceful boat ride.  Pat and Kip from Berrien County Parks were our tour guides.  They are naturalists which pretty much means their job is to share their love and astonishment of nature with others, a.k.a. AWESOME job!  We didn't see much wildlife, but we sure did see the marsh in a whole different light and mood.  If you ever have the opportunity to get into a watershed at night, I highly recommend it!
Check out pictures here :  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.164982786904502.39753.132472263488888
  Tomorrow I'm going to Grand Beach Marsh to check out invasive work that was done on it and a possible encroachment by adjoining property owners.  Got to put that to a stop if it s true!  I'm excited to see another one of our preserves though.  Marshes are great pieces of property, they do so much for the Great Lakes watershed including house a diverse number of organisms, filter out the dirty water from the streams before it goes into the lake (in this case, Lake Michigan), and help prevent floods by soaking up extra water in the area.  The beaches here on Lake Michigan were already shut down 3 times this year for high E. coli levels from houses in the area not even having septic tanks or their tanks are outdated, and agricultural run off.  Preserving the wetlands helps prevent this E. Coli from reaching the Lake and infecting the hundreds of people who use the lake in the area.  Please, everyone, be respectful of your wetlands and remember how much they do for you.

Going to Ann Arbor this weekend to move out, this will be sad, I have so many good memories in Ann Arbor.  I hope to make more this weekend and see a lot of people whom I miss!  Enjoy Harry Potter everyone!  I'm seeing it Saturday with my favorite Spaniard!
Cuidate my readers!